WELCOME HOLI AND WELCOME HYDERABAD

Dear friends and comrades,

This Holi has added the colour and flavour of Hyderabad to AIASCT.

The AGB of the Hyderabad Unit has taken a decision that no AC will be member of their unit and that the Unit will be part of AIASCT. Letter of Hyderabad Unit

It is a grand occasion for AIASCT.

Hyderabad Unit has been one of the most organized and democratically run units out of those which had not joined AIASCT. Now only three or four other such Units remain to join us.

The Hyderabad Unit had been buffeted with discussion regarding the stand of AIASCT, which I had explained in a message to the members of Hyderabad on the eve of their AGB.

There had been a wrong impression created in the minds of some persons in Hyderabad that AIASCT had been against their interests.

We have clearly explained that our Association runs on a democratic method and thus it is NOT POSSIBLE TO BE AGAINST THE CADRE INTERESTS.

It is heartening to note that by an overwhelming majority the Unit has taken a decision to join us.

WE EXTEND A WARM WELCOME TO THE HYDERABAD UNIT.

We are sure that the units of Guntur and Vizag also will take a considered decision.

AIASCT once again commits itself to neutrality, transparency and democratic traditions of running an Organization.

CADRE RESTRUCTURING IS ON OUR PLATE.

Filling up of vacant posts of Assistant Commissioners and for that ironing out the difficulties in the route of the AISL from 1.1.2007 is also on the top of our agenda.

Long Live Unity of the Association and the cadre.

Fraternally yours,
R. Manimohan,
Secretary General

 

WILL THE INSPECTOR RAJ RETURN?

Members have brought to our notice the reply given in the Parliament for a starred question regarding whether Uniform is there for CGST.  

The reply went on to rely upon the vintage Office Procedure Manual, which many of us have not even seen with our eyes.  It was last published in 1975.

The formations in the said OPM like Circle Offices and Multi Office Range do not exist.

The OPM was running parallel to the TEM (Tobacco Excise Manual) which was merged in the BEM and declared that whichever provisions of TEM are not available in the BEM cease to exist.  That was in 1989 - the era which ushered in PBC, RBC checks and consciously walked away from the Physical control on most of the products.

Still, almost every year, we used to be flogged by use of the term 'INSPECTOR RAJ'

As an Association we tried hard to inculcate the necessity to treat the Trade as our bread earners and not as enemies and therefore not to use the terror of uniform, which had been dropped in the BEM.

The Central Excise Rules of 2001 and 2002 also dropped the word Uniform.

Nowhere we used Uniform, other than of course for PROTOCOLS.

What is PROTOCOL? asked the Vice Chairman of the 6th CPC, when we discussed the issue and said that if Uniform is continued, it should be continued with proper allowance and dignity and not for merely doing PROTOCOL.

The Joint Secretary who was nearby informed the Vice Chairman that PROTOCOL meant accompanying Higher Officials to Airports and Railway Stations.  

For that? No. Said the Vice Chairman. The 5th CPC has already abolished it, he said.

The 6th CPC gave no recommendation for allowances.

The Khelkar Committee had also recommended abolition of Uniform.

All this was unmindful of the fact that the BEM had already abolished it.

Yet, from time to time the ghost would arise.

On one hand we will be flogged for INSPECTOR RAJ.  On another 'for discipline', they would say, it has to be worn once in a while.

The then General Secretary of the Inspectors Association at Chennai, Shri. G. Natarajan had asked, 'does it mean that others who are not prescribed with uniform do not require discipline'?

Before the CIC, the CBEC itself conceded that what was prescribed in the pre-Independence era was being continued as a matter of Custom.  As per the CIC direction, a draft guidelines were also attempted in 2013. It was not however concluded.

Now after more than 7 years, they have lead the Hon'ble Ministry into believing that the 1975 OPM unknown in most of the Head quarters Offices of CGST even, is still ruling.

Due to pressure from members from across the country, the CEC has brought the facts to the notice of the Hon'ble FM. COPY OF THE LETTER COULD BE ACCESSED HERE

Just a glance at some of the attires prescribed in the OPM Rules will enable any one to assess the truth of the matter.

SOLA HAT

JACKET

WEBB BELT

In spite of all this, if the Government wants the CGST officers to be Uniformed Officers, we hope they will provide the necessary infrastructure and facilities to behave on par with the Uniformed Officers of the Police at least.

    

CEC RESOLUTION ON CADRE REVIEW

THE CEC WAS SHOCKED TO LEARN THAT THE CADRE REVIEW PROPOSAL HAS BEEN CLEARED BY THE CBIC WITHOUT DISCUSSIONS WITH THE STAFF ASSOCIATIONS. 

IT WAS FELT THAT IT IS SIMILAR TO WHAT HAPPENED IN 2001-02 CADRE REVIEW WHEN ALL ASSOCIATIONS TOOK UP THE MATTER WITH THE THEN HON'BLE FINANCE MINISTER.  THE HON'BLE FM ORDERED THAT THE CBIC SHOULD RENEGOTIATE THE ISSUE EVEN THOUGH THE CABINET APPROVAL HAD BEEN GRANTED TO THE CBIC PROPOSAL.

SINCE HISTORY REPEATED ITSELF, CEC DECIDED TO TAKE UP THE MATTER WITH THE HON'BLE FINANCE MINISTER. 

THE LETTER ALONG WITH THE RESOLUTION IS REPRODUCED BELOW:  

Ref. No: FM/01/2021                                                                                     Date: 17.03.2021

To
Smt. Nirmala Sitharaman,
Hon’ble Minister of Finance,
North Block,
New Delhi.


Hon’ble Madam,

Sub: Cadre Review in CBIC – implications for CGST – reg.

We are given to understand that the Cadre Review Proposals of the CBIC have been cleared by the Board. But the Board has not conducted any hearing or consultation with any of the Staff/Service Associations before deciding upon the Draft CR Proposals submitted by the DGHRD. Though the DGHRD, had consulted the Service Associations, it was found that the draft submitted by the DGHRD was far below the expectations of the cadre to tackle the work load in the CGST on par with the GST departments of the States and Union Territories and to set right inequalities. Hence, our objections/suggestions on the draft proposals of the DGHRD had been submitted to the CBIC and we had sought an opportunity to be heard by the CBIC before the proposals are finalised by the Board. However, it is learnt that the Board had finalised the proposals without hearing the Staff/Service Associations. Hence, we beg to bring to your kind notice some of the main concerns of our cadre in the above matter so that before the proposal is submitted to the Cabinet, necessary corrections could be incorporated in the interest of maintaining the best practices in the CGST.

2. Since this is a Cadre Review undertaken after introduction of the CGST, the structure of the department was to be made comparative with the GST set up of the States and Union Territories in respect of number of personnel at each cadre level, their positions in the hierarchy, commensurate to work load and comparable promotional avenues. The draft CR proposal of the DGHRD was found lacking in this perspective and we had put it on record.

3. Further, some major works like PV, IGST verifications of risky exporters and L1 and L2 suppliers, detection of fake invoices for misuse of ITC, etc have increased the work load in a major way, after the DGHRD had finalised their CR proposals. Hence, the CR has to cover all the above areas.

4.1 The CR was expected to do away with inequalities in promotional avenues between officers of CGST/ Central Excise and Customs and within various regions of the CGST/ Central Excise. All efforts taken earlier with regard to this issue for thepast several decades had failed to bring about any positive results. The present state of affairs is that while a person who joined as Examiner in 2002 could become an Assistant Commissioner, a person who joined as Inspector through the very same SSC common exam in the year of 1985 is yet to get promoted as Assistant Commissioner. Within the different zones of CGST/ Central Excise also there is a difference of 7 years.

4.2. The ratio of promotions to the promotee Group A cadre has also been distorted. Though in the case of S.P. Dudeja & Ors (C.A No 1198/2005) the Hon’ble Supreme Court had ruled that the ratio between the CGST, Customs Preventive and Appraisers that was being maintained at 6:1:2 should be altered to secure a just and fair representation for all the three feeder cadres, the revised ratio of 13:2:1 was adopted only from 2011. As a result, the excess posts that went into the Customs side for 14 years was lost for the Central Excise altogether and further, promotions within that which occurred more by retirements from the Central Excise side had again got distributed to the Customs in the next round of promotions. This multiplied the injustice. The net distortion could be seen from the data below where the current ratio is only 6.2:1.8:2 against the feeder cadre ratio of 20:3:1.

CGST/C.Ex

Customs Prev

Appraisers

Total


Sanctioned strength of Supdt and equivalent cadres*

15526

2388

1194

19108


Ratio

20

3

1


*Source: Half Yearly Brochure as on 1.7.2020 on the DGHRD website


No of Promotee Group A Officers working from different streams in CBIC as on date*

Additional Commissioner

0

0

122



Joint Commissioner

0

0

63



Deputy Commissioner

56

2

57



Assistant Commissioner

1251

383

190

Total

1307

385

432

2124


Ratio

6.2

1.8

2

* Source: Civil List in the CBIC Website

4.3. With an intention of putting an end to the above gross distortions in promotional avenues between officers recruited through the same examination but getting posted in different parts of the same Department, this Association had suggested a Group B Service (Branch B Service) in such a manner that there would be equity and upward mobility for the officials. But the draft of the DGHRD, though in principle recommended the Branch B Service did not make it applicable for the existing officials by bringing about parity in terms of process of selection for the promotions within the Branch B Service and hence left it futuristic without addressing the above issues. This was also raised by this Association and we had sought to be heard by the Board before finalisation of the draft proposal.

4.4. Since the 2118 Temporary Group A Posts created for taking care of stagnation had also failed to resolve the above imbalances, as an additional and supportive measure to assuage the distortion in promotions between different streams and regions, this Association had sought for a re-designation of all the Superintendents who had already reached the pay scale of Assistant Commissioners as Assistant Commissioners as done in the State/UT GSTs. This was proposed since this would have broken the above distortions to a great extent and also brought about parity with conditions of service in the State/UT GSTs without any additional expenditure. This has also not been incorporated in the CR proposals.

5. In the light of the above, this Association unanimously resolved (Copy of the resolution is enclosed for ready reference) to put forth the following before your good self so that necessary directions are given to the CBIC to incorporate necessary changes before the Cadre Review :

a) That the structure of CGST should be made comparable with the GST structure of the States/UTs to make it competitive and productive;

b) That the Officials in the CGST should be placed in a comparable position with their counter parts of State/UT GSTs. (In earlier regimes, the State Officials had to seek parity with the Central Government Officials)

c) That the in-equality in terms of the promotions between the Customs and Central Excise (CGST) which is 17 years, as well as within the different Zones of Central Excise (CGST) which is 7 years, should be done away with to improve the morale and efficiency of officers in CGST by:

i. either adopting the Branch B Service proposed in the Cadre Review with base cadre seniority of current Officers to be promoted as the criteria (instead of prospective merger);

ii. or adopting Recruitment Rules for the said Branch B Service with post based quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iii. and if the Branch B Service concept is not being accepted by the DOPT of UOI, then adopting Recruitment Rules for the Group A with post based quota within the promotee quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iv. or have restructure in such a manner that the present CBIC be bifurcated by having the Board to administer only Customs and the CGST Officials be brought under the direct charge of the Revenue Department to enable them to attain fair and equitable treatment in their service conditions on par with the GST officials of the States/UTS; to enable the existing officials of the CBIC to exercise an option to choose between the two streams; and, to overcome the problem of lack of sufficient hands in the Customs for manning Customs work hitherto performed by the CGST Officials, such formations/posts be manned on deputation basis by the CGST Officials from the Department of Revenue.

6. We request your good self to kindly issue necessary instructions to the Department of Revenue to study the above issues and make necessary corrections to the Cadre Review proposal submitted by the CBIC before it is put up for further action.

7. It may not be out of place to mention here that in a previous Cadre Review held in 2001-02 also, the CBEC had failed to consult with the Staff Associations before getting the approval of the Cabinet. Only after the Staff Associations brought this to the notice of the then Hon’ble Finance Minister, the CBEC was forced to conduct discussions with the Associations. Hence, the cadre will be highly obliged if we are given an opportunity to elaborate our above points before any authority in the Department of Revenue with more data and details, before any further action is taken on the proposal cleared by the CBIC.

With regards,

Yours truly,

Encl : Resolution of the CEC Sd/-

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

Copy submitted to the Chairman, CBIC for information.

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

RESOLUTION OF THE EMERGENCY CENTRAL EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE

OF THE ALL INDIA ASSOCIATION OF SUPERINTENDENTS OF CENTRAL TAX

PASSED IN THE VIRTUAL MEET ON 14.03.2021

This Emergency virtual meeting of the CEC of the All India Association Superintendents of Central Tax held on 14.03.2021, takes note of the following developments with regard to our cadre demands:


(i) The proposal of this Association for re-designation of Superintendents as Assistant Commissioners as done in SGST and UTGST, without any change in pay is not being pursued by the Board;

(ii) The Board has not given an opportunity to this Association or other Service Associations to place their points regarding the draft CR proposals of the DGHRD before sending the same to the Revenue Secretary/DOPT. It is apprehended that by reasonable belief, the draft of the DGHRD only has been adopted by the Board without changes and hence the proposed Branch B Service with only a prospective effect is not going to be of any use to the Superintendents who have been stagnating for 20 to 35 years without getting even a second promotion from the grade of Inspector.


This meeting feels that in the above scenario, there is no scope for enabling evening-out of the differences in promotional avenues between officers recruited through the same SSC Exam but posted in Customs and various zones of Central Excise/GST and also there is no possibility to get proper infrastructure, hierarchical position and promotions on par with the officials of the State /UT GSTs.

This meeting takes note of the total demoralization felt by the cadre in Central Excise/CGST all over India due to the above scenario. The meeting also observed that already the demoralization in the cadre has led many seniors to opt for VRS.


Hence, this meeting unanimously resolves to put forth the following before the Hon’ble Minister of Finance, the Revenue Secretary and Secretary, DOPT, so that necessary directions are given to the CBIC to incorporate necessary changes before the Cadre Review :


(1) That the structure of CGST should be made comparable with the GST structure of the States/UTs to make it competitive and productive;


(2) That the Officials in the CGST should be placed in a comparable position with their counter parts of State/UT GSTs. (In earlier regimes, the State Officials had to seek parity with the Central Government Officials)


(3) That the in-equality in terms of the promotions between the Customs and Central Excise (CGST) which is 17 years, as well as within the different Zones of Central Excise (CGST) which is 7 years, should be done away with to improve the morale and efficiency of officers in CGST by :

i. either adopting the Branch B Service proposed in the Cadre Review with base cadre seniority of current Officers to be promoted as the criteria (instead of prospective merger);

ii. or adopting Recruitment Rules for the said Branch B Service with post based quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iii. and if the Branch B Service concept is not being accepted by the DOPT of UOI, then adopting Recruitment Rules for the Group A with post based quota within the promotee quota separately for Customs and CGST/ Central Excise along with base cadre seniority in Customs and CGST/ Central Excise respectively;

iv. or have restructure in such a manner that the present CBIC be bifurcated by having the Board to administer only Customs and the CGST Officials be brought under the direct charge of the Revenue Department to enable them to attain fair and equitable treatment in their service conditions on par with the GST officials of the States/UTS; to enable the existing officials of the CBIC to exercise an option to choose between the two streams; and, to overcome the problem of lack of sufficient hands in the Customs for manning Customs work hitherto performed by the CGST Officials, such formations/posts be manned on deputation basis by the CGST Officials from the Department of Revenue.

Further resolved unanimously to take up the above demands in all possible forums to get justice for the cadre.

(R. Manimohan)

Secretary General

 

 

  

ENERGY THY NAME IS WOMAN

 

When the West shouted ‘Frailty thy name is woman’, the ancient wisdom of this country proclaimed Woman as Sakthi.

Sakthi is mistaken as Power. It is Energy.  Power was considered as a Male symbol.  Energy was just ‘being’, not exerting.  Power is exerted.  Energy could get converted as Power.  But it could also get converted as Consciousness.

And yet, over the centuries, this Sakthi got trampled upon, by mad exercise of powers – always ill-gotten, not with the purpose of serving others, but to cater to ones’ own bloated egos.

 The greatness of womanhood is that it can co-operate, co-ordinate, accommodate, bring forth and sustain. It is all about life.

It does not rationalise between the rights and wrongs.  It feels.  It lives and dies for what it feels is itself.

It does not calculate on earthly terms. It goes down to the needy, the famished, the sick and the hurt.

It does not hold its head in pride of knowledge, intellect and positions.

It revels at the joy and weeps at the sorrow, of the near and dear.

And to sustain itself, at times, it has to enrage like that flame that is tried to be put out.

Tagore first wrote:

‘God says to man, I heal you, therefore I hurt.  I pardon, therefore punish’. 

He later corrected pardon as love to make it read as:

‘God says to man, I heal you, therefore I hurt.  I love, therefore punish’. 

That was a profound statement.  Change of one word makes a lot of difference.

The first statement comes out of a Male mind.  The second refined one, from the Female mind.

The wise try to synthesize the two, for a balanced way of life.

One is not to conquer or destroy the other.  They are to co-exist and make the wonderful whole.

And nothing survives without that primordial energy.

That Energy, the woman hood, the Sakthi, we remember and celebrate today, on this International Woman’s day.